Guest Blog: Who, Where, Why, and How to Share Your Opportunity

I adore today's guest blogger Hope Groves. I met her when she hired me to do a field training for her a few years back and we fell in love at first sight. She's one of the most funny people I've ever met and an incredibly successful direct seller as well. Today in her guest post, she shares her formula for successful sponsoring (and she's built a team of over 700 people in about four years, so you might want to pay attention).

You might be apprehensive about the right time, the right place or the right way to share your direct sales opportunity. What if you choose a different approach and decide that it is your job as a successful direct sales professional to share your opportunity freely with anyone at any time? Let’s look at four questions around sharing the opportunity: who, where, why and how.

WHO?

“What if nobody shared this opportunity with me?”

Consultants often think they already know if someone will be interested in their opportunity. They might not share it because they have already decided whether or not there is any interest. No one can tell by looking at someone if they want or need your opportunity.

Your team will always be made up of people from different backgrounds with different goals for their direct sales business. When someone shared the opportunity with you, do you think you looked like someone who needed it? I don’t think I did and I bet you didn’t, either.

WHERE?

“Opportunity is everywhere.”

You have the opportunity, so it is up to you to take it everywhere. Opportunity is everywhere you are, isn’t it? Where do you go? That’s where you have the opportunity to share.

The home party is the most obvious place. This is the place where you have the most people together listening to you!

To the pool! What better ringing endorsement is there for the freedom you enjoy as a direct seller? Even better if your product is something that you can use while you’re lounging poolside!

At the mall when you’re shopping for what to wear to any company event. The salesperson will be interested in hearing about the weekend retreat you’re shopping for or even better, the reason you need a gown to wear on stage for your national conference!

In line at any store, of course! When you are using your product, you are modeling your product. When women say they love your ________ , you better be able to pull a customer packet out of that bag and share it with her!

WHY?

“You can get everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” ~Zig Ziglar

What are you doing for others by sharing your opportunity? You have no way of knowing who was up all night last night worrying about how they are going to pay the bills. You cannot guess who would love to have just one night a month out of the house with no children attached at the hip. That girl who just moved to the area doesn’t know many people yet, but I bet she wants to make new friends. There are so many reasons why direct sales is a great opportunity for so many different women. Make the offer and let them tell you what this opportunity could change for them!

It’s no secret that your income can increase exponentially when you build a team in direct sales. Your company most likely pays you the same commission on your sales month after month, so without a team, your income is completely dependent on your personal sales. Building a team means building your income beyond your commission.

HOW?

“Shh. Listen.”

When you talk about your opportunity, are you gushing a big storm of too much detailed information all over your potential recruit? Do you walk away tired, winded and wondering why she might be interested? Did you even ask?

The flow of information should be from them to you, not the other way around. You cannot help anyone to get what they want if you don’t know what they want, and you cannot know what they want if you don’t ask and listen.

When someone has expressed an interest in learning more about what you do, help them to imagine themselves in your shoes by asking them questions about what it could do for them. Answer their questions from that perspective to help them create the vision for themselves. You can help them create that vision with a few key questions.

What do you love about your life right now?

What are the three most important things in your life right now?

If you could change one thing about your life, what would it be?

How would changing that one thing affect your life?

What if she is still apprehensive? One last question:

What is holding you back?

Hope Groves is a Senior Executive Director with Thirty-One Gifts. What began as a way to get adorable products for a discount became the way she could afford to quit her career in automotive quality management to stay home when her son was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Knowing firsthand that direct sales can be the most perfect unconventional solution to life's most conventional challenges has made Hope passionate about sharing the opportunity and inviting women to create choices in their lives.

Since joining the company in September 2009, she has built a team of over 700 Consultants nationwide and has promoted twenty-four Directors in her downline. Hope has been recognized by Thirty-One for sales, team sales and recruiting, is a National Conference Facilitator and a member of the Leadership Council for Thirty-One Gifts.